1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for transferring information for persons in the area of an airport, a method for transferring information for persons in the area of an airport, and a personal end device.
2) Description of Related Art
The number of persons using airports all over the world is constantly increasing. These persons must cover distances in a complex spatial facility (in buildings and in the free space), and mostly specific deadlines must be met by these persons. Among these persons there are passengers who must move around in a complex facility under time pressure, frequently without having any local knowledge. Usually, a passenger receives a printed boarding pass and must find his way in the airport on his own. In particular, this means that he must be at a certain place, namely the flight gate, at a certain time.
However, the group of people regularly moving around in the area of an airport also includes employees working on the airport, who constantly must process new information under time pressure, e.g. to unload or refuel airplanes. In principle, these persons require up-to-the-minute information on spatially distributed points, such as flight gates.
Thus, all these persons require temporal and/or spatial information in the area of an airport. When reference is made below to the area of an airport, this does not only comprise the actual airport building, but also the runway and the surrounding places, such as car parks, loading zones or parking lots, etc.
To guide a person in the area of an airport, the passenger so far has received a boarding pass, with which he can be identified as passenger at control stations. Before boarding the aircraft, part of the boarding pass is retained or the boarding pass is read out electronically.
In particular on large airports, the route from the check-in counter to the flight gate is long and often not easy to find. How long it takes for a passenger to walk to the flight gate, often is hard to assess even for frequent flyers, and in a foreign airport virtually cannot be assessed by the passenger.
With many passengers, this uncertainty leads to increased stress and the tendency to walk to the flight gate much too early and to utilize the airport facilities for refreshment and for shopping less than would be possible or expedient. It is particularly frustrating for the passenger when departure is delayed and he must wait at the gate for an extended period.
On the other hand, other people in turn underestimate the time required to walk to the flight gate or get lost in the airport building and again and again cause delays due to late arrival at the flight gate.
Another problem consists in that passengers occasionally have to be asked to walk to certain points, for example in order to attend a special inspection of the checked luggage, receive important messages or be informed of problems with connecting flights, settle entry formalities or solve other problems.
The currently practiced method of putting out a call via the loudspeaker system is not always successful, since the acoustic perceptibility is not ensured everywhere and in particular in international traffic the pronunciation of names often is not made such that the bearer of the name feels concerned. With frequently occurring names, however, the wrong people quite frequently feel concerned.
In addition, in particular at peak times the airport experience is spoiled by various queues, for example on check-in, at the security checks and on boarding at the flight gate.